Whatever you have learned and received and heard and seen in Me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:9
On this day in 1634, St. Mary, Maryland, was established as a Catholic colony by Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. In exchange for the charter and ownership rights, he shared income gained from Maryland with the Crown. Cecil desired Maryland to be a refuge for Catholics mistreated in England. Protestant and Catholic settlers began to arrive in Maryland from England, and conflict arose when the Puritans sought to revoke the colony’s established religious freedoms. In 1649, Governor William Stone passed the Toleration Act to ensure religious justice and liberty to all who believed in Jesus Christ. However, Puritans repealed the act in 1654 when they acquired control of Maryland. Though Lord Baltimore lost control of ownership rights over the colony after a brief civil war, the Calverts enacted religious protections in the city of Baltimore.
As the Lord leads, pray with us…
- That the president and members of his Cabinet would uphold and protect the free exercise of religion.
- For justices and judges in the federal judiciary to rule in accordance with the Constitution and Bill of Rights concerning religious freedoms.
